Presented by the American Cinematheque, the French Institute, the French Embassy in New York, the French Film & TV Office of the French Consulate and the Jean-Pierre Melville Foundation. Special thanks to TV5MONDE, now streaming the best of French-language films online with Sling TV.

Arguably director Jean-Pierre Melville's most personal film (he fought in the French underground during World War II), this shattering portrait of the early days of the French Resistance is not so much a crime film as it is a fascinating companion to the director’s more famous thrillers. The dark, fatalistic tone and the themes are all there from Melville’s noirs: betrayal, the loss of honor and the mechanics of brutality. Legendary tough guy Lino Ventura stars in what Melville called “a nostalgic pilgrimage back to a certain period which profoundly marked my generation.” With Simone Signoret and Paul Meurisse.